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Popular Culture Review
succeed, we inspire others to travel to the places we care about. And in a sense,
we help kill what we love.” Such reflection is rarely permitted on travel shows,
but as self-deprecation and bluntness are markers of Bourdain’s intrigue, we see
that his celebrity eclipses the self-serving function of such programs. This does
not entirely excuse Bourdain’s behavior, however. Patai finds herself in a
similar situation when she researches, as “feminists imagine that merely
engaging in the discourse of feminism protects them from the possibility of
exploiting other women, while their routine research practices are and continue
to be embedded in a situation of material inequality” (Patai 139). Yet it can still
cause viewers to think about the potential effects of their nascent travel plans to
follow in Bourdain’s footsteps.
It is heartening to see that Bourdain and the producers of No Reservations
are clear ǒv&R